2. The Stronger Smarter Institute acknowledges that Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander
people, as the longest continuous living culture on the planet, have been working in
this space as the First Scientists, the First Technicians, the First Engineers and the First
Mathematicians for more than 65,000 years.
3. Current national crisis in STEM
• STEM internationally recognised as integral in boosting
productivity, creating new jobs, enhancing
competitiveness and driver of economical growth
• 75 per cent of the fastest growing occupations now
require STEM skills and knowledges.
• Australia and the world has a massive skills shortage in
the area of STEM – crisis for Australia’s economic future.
• Education will play a vital role in reversing the currently
observed declining trends in STEM participation
4.
5.
6.
7. Indigenous students
STEM - Environmental Awareness
In the 2015 PISA survey, Indigenous
students compared to non-Indigenous
students in Australia
awareness of environmental issues
PISA 2015: Reporting Australia’s results
https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=ozpisa
8. Indigenous kids
STEM - Beliefs about Science
In the 2015 PISA survey, Indigenous
students compared to non-Indigenous
students in Australia
knowledge of how science beliefs are
constructed
PISA 2015: Reporting Australia’s results
https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=ozpisa
9. Teachers need to find a way to
unlock the untapped potential
that Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander students are
demonstrating.
10. Student
Engagement
Students engaging with an education in STEM
develop skills in creative and critical thinking and
communication skills - highly valuable to an
increasingly wide range of occupations.
11. Importance of Student Engagement
in achieving in STEM
Behavioral
Engagement
Cognitive
Engagement
Emotional
Engagement
Fredericks, Blumenfeld & Paris 2004
13. SSiSTEMIK Pathway – 5 Elements
👣
Quality
Curriculum &
Resources
Mentoring &
Support Pathways
Program PD
Evaluate & Track
Pathway(s)
Indigenous
Knowledges (IK)
@ forefront of
STEM
14. IK at the forefront
• Central organizing ideal – embedded throughout the
Pathway
• IK is from a strength based approach
• IK experts – sharing their stories through the PD,
Indigenous leadership – staffing, practitioners
• Deeply recognizing, privileging and refollowing the
pathway of the First Scientists, First Doctors, First
Astronomists, First Mathematicians…
• Indigenous Research Methods - frameworks and
building blocks for deepening STEM learning and
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies.
15. • Privileges and highlights Indigenous Knowledges
• Rigorous and Robust
• Acknowledge processes and protocols – men and
women’s business
• Acknowledges the people, the place and the
Indigenous Knowledges that it represents
• Not secret or sacred business
• Presented in present tense
• Aligned to the Australian Curriculum
• Connected to assessment
• Provide background information to assist teachers to
teach.
Quality Curriculum & Resources
16. Mentoring & Support
Pathways
• Ongoing support provided throughout
programs
• Being mentored by Indigenous education
practitioners
• Connections to wider Institute partners
17. Evaluate & Track
Pathway(s)
• Using the Institute Research & Impact
methodologies and tools, all parts of the
SSiSTEMIK Pathway(s) to be analyzed for
deeper insight and impacts.
• Evaluation of programs through formal
and informal data sharing
• Latest SSiSTEMIK Masterclass rating –
4.8/5 with 5/5 Indigenous Knowledge
experts
19. SSiSTEMIK
Masterclass PD
• Strength-based solutions for Indigenous student
engagement and achievement in STEM.
• Expose participants to Indigenous Knowledge experts –
start to unlearn and re-learn.
• Give teachers the opportunity to play a key role in action
research.
• Expose participants to proven research processes,
methodologies and advanced learning.
• Provide face-to-face, 1st hand experience to Indigenous
STEM in action
22. Science as Inquiry
An innovative pedagogical approach is to look at Science
as Inquiry.
Where Inquiry is the process of:
o formulating questions
o organising ideas
o exploring and evaluating information
o analysing and synthesising data
o communicating findings and conclusions
• Student take an active role and have ownership of
learning (rather than watching, listening and learning a
methodology)
• It is an open-ended way of seeking knowledge using
critical and creative thinking
• It develops higher-order thinking and construction of
ideas
• Students view themselves as learners and raise
questions and use observations
25. SSiSTEMIK pathway Teacher feedback….
“This workshop was exceptional!”
Primary school teacher NSW
“A very effective model for lifelong learning …the
cultural considerations are central, well beyond what I
thought the program would be, cannot recommend it
enough to teachers, leaders and any Australian history
to develop their knowledge of our First Nations
Peoples and their long contribution to mathematics”
CSIRO Indigenous STEM Facilitator
“Most useful – that maths is interconnected to
everyone and its connections to Indigenous
Australian culture is deep and long lasting”
Head of Science ACT
Dr Chris Matthews
Maths & Culture Masterclass Participants
MARCH 2018
26. • Indigenous students who see themselves, their
culture and their knowledges reflected and
celebrated in the core business of Curriculum &
Pedagogy
• Expected to bring themselves to the task – High
Expectation Relationships
• Have teachers whose roles are to be – co-
learners/facilitators/supporters/mentors/listeners/
motivators/challengers
• Indigenous role models – “You can’t be what you
can’t see”
• Allowed to be UNIQUE – Cultural difference is the
vehicle for EXCELLENCE!
STEM skill shortage in workforce
Declining interest in the study of STEM disciplines in senior secondary school;
Declining performance of Australian school students in science and maths
Gap in subject selection and achievement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in important STEM subjects
Limited growth of science, engineering and information technology at tertiary level especially in: natural and physical sciences, branches of engineering and information technology
Poor retention of Indigenous tertiary students
Women leaving STEM in unacceptably high numbers at secondary, tertiary and early-career level
.
Office of the Chief Scientist - International research indicates that 75 per cent of the fastest growing occupations now require STEM skills and knowledge.
Students engaging with an education in STEM will develop skills in creative and critical thinking and communication skills which are all relevant and highly valuable to an increasingly wide range of occupations.
The vision for Australia must include an education system that expects and achieves a high level of student achievement, mastery, enjoyment and innovation in science, technology and mathematics, ear after year – through well resourced, knowledgeable, inspiring and passionate teams of teachers
In the workplace: We know that higher education is a key to economic development for Indigenous Australians. Employment outcomes are vastly better for Indigenous Australians with degree-level qualifications:
Imperative that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students be a part of Australia’s economic future.
. In 2013, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Higher Education Advisory Council acknowledged that for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to achieve parity of STEM subjects to other fields of study, the government, among other things, must support more Indigenous content in curricula and better cultural competency for teachers. The Office of the Chief Scientist (2014) agree that there must be a well-resourced, knowledgeable, inspiring and passionate team of teachers leading.
In schools: Data from standardised testing shows Indigenous students in schools are performing significantly worse than their non-Indigenous peers.
While the Government’s agenda for increasing school attendance for Indigenous school students is an important part of improving outcomes, there is more work to be done on improving what happens inside the schools to ensure better performance in STEM for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school students.
What does this mean for our Aboriginal and Torres Strati Islander students? – 2 – 2.5 years behind our Non-Indigenous counter parts
Teachers need to be better prepared for teaching maths and science to Indigenous school students, and more Indigenous teachers are essential.
PISA p.234-241 looks at the student awareness and understanding of environmental issues and epistemological values beliefs about science
PISA 2015 – SURVEYED in AUSTRALIA - 758 schools, 14530 students of this 2807 were Indigenous
Environmental awareness
The study of science at school plays an important role in informing, building and shaping students’ environmental awareness, attitudes and their sense of environmental responsibility. The scientific skills and knowledge they gain equip them to assess environmental situations and instil a level of awareness and understanding to engage in active participation in the protection of the environment.
To measure students’ environmental awareness, students were asked to respond to seven environmental issues and indicate how informed they were about each issue:
Î the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
Î the use of genetically modified organisms (GMO)
Î nuclear waste
Î the consequences of clearing forests/other land use
Î air pollution
Î extinction of plants and animals
Î water shortage.
Reference
Thomson, S., De Bortoli, L, & Underwood, C. (2017). PISA 2015: Reporting Australia’s results. Australian Council for Educational Research.
PISA 2015: Reporting Australia’s results
https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=ozpisa
Attitudes towards science p21
The scientific literacy assessment framework recognises the role that individuals’ attitudes play in the interest and response to science and technology in general and to issues that may affect them. In PISA 2015, students’ attitudes towards science were measured through the Student Questionnaire and evaluated in three areas: interest in science and technology, environmental awareness, and valuing scientific approaches to enquiry.
PISA p.234-241 looks at the student awareness and understanding of environmental issues and epistemological values beliefs about science
Figure 7.28 presents Australian students’ epistemic beliefs about science by demographic characteristics. Indigenous students reported showing significantly more knowledge of how science beliefs are constructed than the average for all OECD countries
Value beliefs about science (epistemological beliefs)
Students’ epistemological beliefs about science, that is how knowledge of science is constructed, are closely related to students’ general values of science and scientific inquiry (Hofer and Pintrich, 2002).
Students were asked to indicate their level of agreement to a series of six statements about their knowledge of how value beliefs about science are constructed. Students responded on a four- point scale (strongly disagree; disagree; agree; strongly agree). The value beliefs about science statements were:
Î A good way to know if something is true is to do an experiment.
Î Ideas in science sometimes change.
Î Good answers are based on evidence from many different experiments.
Î It is good to try experiments more than once to make sure of your findings.
Î Sometimes broad science scientists change their minds about what is true.
Î The ideas in science books sometimes change.
Reference
Thomson, S., De Bortoli, L, & Underwood, C. (2017). PISA 2015: Reporting Australia’s results. Australian Council for Educational Research.
PISA 2015: Reporting Australia’s results
https://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=ozpisa
In the 2015 PISA (Programme for International student Assessment) survey, Indigenous students compared to non-Indigenous students in Australia
Had significantly higher awareness of environmental issues
Had significantly more knowledge of how science beliefs are constructed.
Were more optimistic about environmental issues
The PISA study says that, in general, there is a positive relationship between these measures of understanding and student achievement.
And yet there is an achievement gap where Indigenous students in PISA achieved around 2.5 years of schooling lower than non-Indigenous students.
HANSEN 2016 reading
Behavioural engagement is evidenced by students’ participation in social, academic and extracurricular activities.
Defined as a student’s effort, persistence, participation, and compliance with school structures. It typically refers to students who comply with behavioural norms such as attendance and involvement, and who do not display disruptive or negative behavior.
students who demonstrate challenging behaviours at school are at increased risk of academic failure, delinquency, dropping out, gang membership and adult incarceration
Emotional engagement is when students exhibit positive attitudes and reactions towards school, teachers, learning, and peers.
a student’s interests, values and emotions, including his or her reactions to academic work (such as interest or boredom) and feelings about his or her school and teachers (such as liking or disliking)
Much past research has indicated that the emotions that a student has with respect to school and education are related to his or her motivation to learn. Students who report positive emotions during academic activities learn more and experience deeper engagement.
Conversely, students who experience negative emotions while learning, such as boredom or anxiety, are likely to avoid tasks in order to minimise these unpleasant feelings.
Cognitive engagement occurs when students make a personal investment in learning in a focused, strategic, and self-regulating way.
cognitive engagement draws on the idea of investment; it includes being thoughtful, willing to exert the necessary effort for comprehension of complex ideas and mastery of difficult skills
regulating their attention and effort, and learning strategies, such as relating new information to existing knowledge, and actively monitoring their comprehension do better on various indicators of academic achievement
Notes from another SLIDE : SSiSTEMIK = Stronger Smarter Institute Indigenous Knowledges in STEM
Meet Market Demand – emphasis on STEM and opportunity to serve that demand
Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islander peoples were Australia’s First Scientists, First Mathematicians, First Engineers and First Technicians
Equip educators with the ‘how’ to engage Indigenous people in STEM. Initial focus on Maths and Science then Technology and Engineering.
Capitalise on national reach of the Institute’s +3,000 teacher graduates
Ik is central organizing idea – is the core of the program
STAFF – designed, developed and delivered by Indigenous practitioners who have skin in the game - DISCIPLINE that is applied to ensure that not 1 person speaks the group, everyone brings their expertise to the table, lived experience personally and professionally 100 years, outstanding educators across all spaces in school environments.
IK STEM EXPERTS – seeking and building mutually respectful relationshsips with those who are the leaders in this space.
RESEARCH – Indigenous Research Methodology – privileging Indigenous voice – Indigenous people representing Indigenous people, working with not doing to.
PROCESSES – utilization of Indigenous processes that the Institute has been working with for over a decade
What should it look like?
Leveraging of other SSI Programs - SSLP
SSLP works with educators to understand underlying assumptions about Indigenous education
Provides one part of the response to STEM – helping to promote high expectations and a positive sense of identity for Indigenous students.
STEM - need to go deeper, look at the relationships between educators/students/ STEM.
Educators need to examine their underlying assumptions about teaching STEM.
Innovative ways of using new culturally responsive pedagogies.
Emphasis on time it takes to develop curriculum and pedagogy!!!!!
The core themes which come through the literature in relation to Indigenous involvement and achievement in STEM are that teachers are the biggest influence over student outcomes (Hattie, 2003, Delpit, 1988, Perso, 2012, Lewthwaite, 2015) and that teachers need to use strength-based approaches like Culturally Responsive Pedagogies (CRPs) to begin to improve the educational outcomes for Indigenous students.
The need to set the bar high – recognition of the so called deficits – literacy, numeracy, old pen and paper recording of knowledge – WHY NOT GATHER EVIDENCE OF UNDERSTANDING THROUGH MULTIMODAL ways of recording.
Increased capacity and confidence to teach Indigenous STEM
Increased skills in the location, selection and evaluation of quality resources that ensure cultural sensitivities and appropriateness
Increased knowledge and understanding of culturally responsive pedagogies – Goompi model and inquiry based learning
NEW LEARNING IS A CHALLENGE – need for processing, to be challenged in your thinking, to be knocked off kilter – learn something new
NOTES FROM ENACTING CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE CURRICULUMS & PEDAGOGIES
Culturally Proficient Teaching & Learning
Proficiency is demonstrated through movement from CRPs & CRCs to Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies and Curriculum.
Teachers need to know how to work in a Culturally Competent way i.e, how to enact CRP’s. This is core business at the Institute. It is offered through the Stronger Smarter Leadership Program (SSLP).
The Institute currently has 3000+ graduates of the program who have and are influencing a nation of 60000 students.
SSLP works in the Cultural Competence realm where behaviors, practices and filters are applied to improve educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Indigenous voice is powerful and strong
Aboriginal Professor of Education, Irabinna Lester (2017) notes that there is no evidence, to date, that supports that Assimilation (‘Closing the Gap’ deficit type scenarios) leads to academic success for minorities and Aboriginal peoples who have been colonised.
He quotes the work of Sleeter (2011) “Deficit approaches while the most common are the least effective, while emancipatory approaches like CRP while the least common, have the most power to bring about lasting change for cohesion. As Perso (2012) describes it – “In a culturally responsive classroom, effective teaching and learning occur in a culturally supported and learner-centered context where the strengths students bring to school are identified, nurtured, and utilised to promote student achievement.”
Rigney response to CRP (Current research in Adelaide) - Cultural difference is seen as an asset not an impediment to excellence – it’s the vehicle for excellence!
PURPOSE to Expose participants to current research in the area of Indigenous STEM
Studies completed in Australia – Hackling, Byrne, Gower and Anderson (2015)
The authors acknowledge that engagement through science is a way to provide opportunities for students to be physically and intellectually engaged which leads to learning. They note other key issues or considerations that need to be taken into account when delivering science programs to Aboriginal students:
An acknowledgement that the culture of schools reflects the values and beliefs of the dominant culture.
That science has its own language and ways of representing ideas which would require a cultural border crossing for students.
That some science concepts may not be able to be translated for Aboriginal students because there is no equivalent science concept in their first language.
Teacher’s capacity to teach science is an important consideration because they may not approach or interact with students in the most culturally responsive way resulting in particular students being more advantaged than others and lastly,
An acknowledgement that engagement is a multidimensional conceptwhich needs to have behavioral, emotional and cognitive components.As Fredericks, Blumenfeld and Paris (2004) note students are engagedwhen they are behaviorally involved in learning tasks, experienceenjoyment in science learning and are actively processing science ideas that motive them to learn more.
Inclusion of new elaborations into the cross curriculum priority A&TSI histories and cultures - SCIENCE
Sit under the funding umbrella for the Indigenous Girls STEM Academy and we will be focussing in on the teacher elements and working to produce more Indigenous female STEM teachers
“You can’t be what you can’t see” for role modelling to Indigenous students and non-Indigenous students.